


That place where they keep those poor animals locked up in cages.

by orphan_account



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Actual wolf!Derek, Cutie pies, M/M, Magic Stiles, oblivious everyone, san diego zoo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-13
Updated: 2014-12-13
Packaged: 2018-03-01 06:27:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2763074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles invites Derek to go to the San Diego zoo with him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [twentysomethingwerewolf](https://archiveofourown.org/users/twentysomethingwerewolf/gifts).



> for: [twentysomethingwerewolf](http://twentysomethingwerewolf.tumblr.com/)  
> Sincere apologies to twentysomethingwerewolf. This is the first fic I've actually finished and I'm cool with writing dialogue but everything in between completely sucks. I was dead tired trying to finish the driving part in time and it's all so terrible god I am so sorry.

Stiles barged into Dereks’ loft without knocking. Derek could hear him coming anyways, so Stiles didn't understand why he was so adamant about knocking. He was greeted with an infamous frown when Derek met him in the sparse living room of the loft.

“Hey there big guy, how do you feel about the zoo? The San Diego zoo to be specific.” Stiles questioned.

“The zoo?” Derek mimicked, slightly raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, the zoo. You know, that place where they keep those poor animals locked up in cages. Where they charge you an arm and a leg for a fucking stuffed animal but you have to get one because it’s just tradition. And you have to stay overnight at least once because hearing the lions roar is-“ Before Stiles could continue anymore, Derek interrupted with a wave of his hand.

“I’m fully aware of what a zoo is Stiles. What does it have to do with me?” Exasperatedly, and over dramatically if Stiles did say so himself, Derek collapsed on the couch.

Stiles inhaled. “Well, Lydia wanted to hang out with some girls for a change so her, Malia and Kira are hitting up some “super, amazing, extraordinary” sale today, Scott’s working a double at the clinic, and my Dad forcefully threw me out of the house because he’s working on some “very inappropriate for Stiles to even look at” case. Which is absurd because c’mon, I’m pretty sure I've seen just about everything there is to see and -“

“Point, Stiles.” Derek was growing visibly more irritable by the second. If Stiles wasn't at the point of his insanely long run-on sentences soon, he had a feeling Derek was going to threaten to rip his throat out. Again.

“Right, uh. . . I thought maybe we could check out the zoo? I mean it’s an hour or so drive, but I haven’t been to a zoo since . . . since before my mom died. Plus I thought it would be a cool bonding experience for us maybe? We hardly ever hang out alone together, and maybe if you had some actual friends you wouldn't be such a mcgrumpy pants sourwolf all the time.” Stiles finished and raised a hand to his head, rubbing his fingers through his hair. There was a long pause, long enough that Stiles thought Derek was just going to get up and leave, before he replied.

“Sure.”

“Woah, seriously?” Stiles was dumbfounded. He had definitely not been expecting Derek to actually accept. He’d been hoping, but he hadn't been expecting anything. “You’re paying, right?”

Derek grunted. Stiles took that as a yes.


	2. Chapter 2

Before they were even completely out of the parking lot, Stiles began bombarding Derek with questions. He might have spent most of the day yesterday planning out an entire series of questions (28 to be exact) in case by some miracle, Derek agreed to go with him. It turned out his efforts had not been in vain.   
“So,” Stiles began cautiously. This was one of the big questions, and the 14 ones before had not fared well for Stiles. “Do you like being a full wolf? It must be a big change for you.”

“Not that much has changed. I’ve been a wolf since I was born, being human for that short period of time was definitely the biggest change. I hated feeling defenseless, powerless. I was so miserable thinking of how I might never be a wolf again, I was seriously considering finding an alpha to bite me.” Derek ended his sentence quietly, staring out the window. Stiles’ merely human senses had to strain to hear the end.

“Woah dude, I had no idea. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, Stiles. I wasn’t losing my powers, I was somehow getting ready to evolve into what I am now. It’s not a lot different, aside from the obvious four legged part. My senses are even more heightened now, I can feel and hear things I couldn’t before, even as an alpha.” Stiles turned his head to look at his passenger. At some point, he’d repositioned himself and he was sitting with his knees hugged to his chest, his cheek resting on his knees, faced towards Stiles. Their eyes met for the slightest of moments before Derek quickly looked away. Stiles was positive he’d seen a dark shade of pink colouring his cheeks though.

They drove on in silence for a while, the quiet was almost unsettling. Stiles had just about resolved to turn the volume up on the radio when Derek spoke up.

“So, what have you been up to since we got back?”

“Derek Hale, are you trying to initiate small talk with me!?” Stiles was flabbergasted. His jaw had nearly dropped to the floor.

Derek looked even more shocked than Stiles felt. Apparently he had just been expecting a straight answer, something that would hopefully send Stiles into a rant for the remainder of the drive.

“Well. . . I. . .” Now he was definitely blushing.

“Relax dude.” Stiles smiled reassuringly. He hesitated before he answered, “I've been trying to catch up on Supernatural because you miss a lot of quality tv time when you're out hunting down actual supernatual creatures. I’ve actually been working with Deaton a lot. He's been, uh, teaching me things."

"Yeah, like what?" Derek seemed genuinely intrigued, so he continued.

"Well, he's been teaching me the basics of spellcasting. Nothing like "I could blow your head off with the snap of my fingers," but I can cast a pretty decent barrier without mountain ash. I mean, I haven't tried it against any feral, raving mad werewolves yet, but Scott says it's pretty decent."

"That's great Stiles. It's good to hear you're learning how to defend yourself." Stiles wasn't exactly certain, but he was pretty sure he'd seen Dereks lips turn up in a smirk as he turned again to resume looking out the window. That was the last Stiles could coax Derek into talking for the remainder of the drive.


	3. Chapter 3

It was almost noon when they finally made it to the zoo. The place was already crawling with people, namely 13 year olds who appeared to be on a school trip. Stiles could sense Derek tensing up before they even made it through the front gates.

"It's alright man," Stiles tried to reassure him, "They don't bite." Derek snorted.

"If that was some sort of werewolf innuendo, it wasn't funny."

"All my jokes are funny. C'mon I wanna see the pandas." They wandered about the zoo side by side, so close their arms brushed occasionally.

They walked for hours, moving from habitat to habitat. Stiles had dragged Derek back to the panda canyon 3 times before they realized it was almost closing time, and the place was nearly deserted. They looped back around through the wolf exhibit before heading out. The exit was in sight when Dereks head snapped around, eliciting the single most terrifying growl Stiles had ever heard in his life.

Stiles turned to find what Derek had growled at, and gasped when he was staring into the eyes of a grey wolf, it's lips pulled back in a snarl. Before Stiles could utter a word, in the place where Derek had been standing now stood a large, sleek, black wolf.

The black wolf crouched down, preparing for a launch, and threw itself at the grey wolf. The grey wolf tried to maneuver around Derek and towards Stiles, but Derek was in it's path before it had even taken a complete step. Before Stiles knew it, Derek had the other wolf pinned to the ground. It wasn't struggling against his hold, and Stiles could see the ragged breaths it was taking, so he assumed Derek had rendered it unconscious at some point.

The black wolf met Stiles' eyes when he cleared his throat. "Can you shift back buddy? There's gonna be rangers or animal control or something here soon and you need to be gone before they get here." Derek glared a few seconds longer before Stiles' words seemed to sink in, and he took off at a sprint.

Stiles glanced around nervously, ensuring that no one had seen the exchange, and took off in the same direction Derek had went. He found him a few minutes later, a heap of human skin and bones, curled against a tire of Stiles jeep. His clothes had been torn when he shifted, and the only parts that remained were enough of his jeans to cover the important parts.

"Derek?" Stiles tried cautiously. He bent down to gingerly place a hand on the man's bare shoulder when he didn't get a response. The second their skin connected Derek snarled and whirled around, still braced for an attack. The look on his face softened when he realized it was Stiles standing in front of him. He was still for a second longer before he lurched towards Stiles.

Stiles stood stock still, braced for some sort of aggression, but all he felt was Derek's hands gently sliding over his arms, patting down towards his torso.

"Derek... I, uh, what're you doin' buddy?" Derek continued his search, only stopping when Stiles swatted his hand away.

"Hey, HEY, that tickles man!" Derek seemed to finally clue in to what he was doing and swiftly turned around, unable to face Stiles, shoulders sagging. Stiles could sense something was wrong.

"Derek?" He began. "I'm fine. The wolf never even touched me. Talk about a freak event. What are the odds of that happening? Well, it was you and me. I guess the odds of just about anything happening were pretty high but -" Stiles stopped mid rant when he could see Derek begin to shake, he looked like he was freezing. "How about we see if I can't find you some spare clothes from the back of my jeep?"

Stiles moved to walk around Derek when a hand grabbed his wrist. He had just enough time to look up when he felt something soft and warm press against his lips. He was just about to lean into the kiss when Derek abruptly pulled away.

"I.. god, I'm so sorry." Derek turned and started to walk away.

"Derek." Stiles started, and Derek kept walking. "Derek." He said more forcefully. Derek stopped, and this time it was Stiles' turn to grab his wrist and pull him into a kiss. He was able to push him up against the side of his jeep, his hands each covering a stubble-covered cheek.

He opened his mouth to deepen the kiss further at the same time Derek opened his and they somehow managed to clash their teeth together. Stiles broke away laughing.  
"Stiles, what -"

"This is SO not how I imagined this happening." He managed when he finally had his laughter under control.

"... You imagined this?" Derek was awestruck.

"Of course I did you idiot. Why do you think I even asked you to come today?... Wait, you kissed me first. Was that like some sort of reaction thingy from just being a wolf or have you been harbouring some feelings of your own there mister?"

Derek he answered by leaning in for another kiss. He pulled back and pressed his forehead against Stiles'.

"Of course I did, idjit."


End file.
